Bold and beautiful Moorcroft pottery makes an appearance in our auctions every month but right now a truly exceptional – and substantial – single-owner collection is brightening our saleroom.
It’s stunning in its breadth and variety. Though I expect to see examples of Moorcroft due to our close proximity to the Staffordshire potteries, the quality and sheer size of this latest collection has taken my breath away.
In 1897 Staffordshire pottery manufacturers James Macintyre & Co Ltd discovered a prodigious talent in the shape of 24-year-old designer William Moorcroft. Within a year he was in charge of the company’s art pottery studio.
Moorcroft’s first innovative range of pottery, Florian Ware, was a great success and won him a gold medal at world fair, the St Louis International Exhibition in 1904. Unusually at that time, he adopted the practice of signing his name, or his initials, on nearly all the pottery he designed.
Moorcroft went on to establish his own company producing an extensive array of moderately-priced domestic tableware items plus hand-painted art pottery. His reputation was enhanced when Queen Mary, a keen collector of his works, granted him a royal warrant in 1928.
The Private Collection of Moorcroft Pottery will be sold on February 5 at Etwall Auction Centre, Heage Lane, Derbyshire, DE65 6LS.
To find out more about our Moorcroft pottery auction, or to arrange a free pottery valuation, please email [email protected].
